St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-06
MEXICAN JOE.
Col. Shelley, the Slayer of Victorioa
the Apache Chief,
Describes the Thrilling Incident OF
the Indians Death.

the savages of a most thrilling character,
and the scalpS which he wears at his belt
are the trophies of his own valor. Col.
Shelley, or Mexican Joe, as he is better
known down in the province of Chihuahua,
doesn't have to wear borrowed plumes.
His daring feats in battle with
the bloodthirsty Apaches is part of the
history of Northern Mexico. He was the
slayer of the fiendish Victoria in 1878, and
Juh and Berneta and other Indian chief
tains fell by his hand. He holds a CONF
mission as colonel in the regular Mexican
army as a reward for his services in Indian
warfare. Col. Shelley is a native Georgia
cracker, having been born near the city of
! Columbus in that state in 1914. He served
| III the Confederate army under Gen. Joe
! j Johnston and was seriously wounded in the
battle of Franklin. After the collapse of
the rebellion he drifted down into Mexico,
at that time the home of rebel refugees.
, Being of an adventurous nature he took
part in the civil connections of the times
and being more fortunate in Mexico than in
his own country happened to join the
winning side. Subsequently he married
Mexican woman and
| SETTLED ON A RANCH
| in the province of Chihuahua, where for
several years he lived happy ranchers
life. The Apache Indians. under the IA
! nous Geronimo, having made a raid on a
settlement in the adjoining province of
| Sonora, Col. sShelley, at the request of the
president of Mexico, led an expedition
against them and drove them back into
their strongholdS in the mountains. He re-
turned from his victorious campaign to find
that during his absence the bloody Victoria.
at the head of another band of Apaches,
had Observation-Disclosures and devastated every
| thing in his pathway. THAT was the be-
ginning of my career of blood" remarked
the colonel to a GLOBE reporter last even
ing. He spoke i'll softened tone at first,
and the CLEAN of tear was perceptible in
the soft blue eye.
That was the first time that my heart had
| been filled with feeling of revenge. When
| l returned home, or to what had been
happy home when left it, 1 found nothing
but mass OF charred ruins. My wife and
| three children had been carried away. I
gathered force together as rapidly as pos,
| sible and started in pursuit. When we
! reached the foot of the mountain found the
! bloody corpses of my three murdered chill
! dren. 1t was then vengeance of fathers
| heart was stirred within me and from that
hour L consecrated my life to the task of
| Staying the murderer of nay sweet children.
| Inc voice grew more tremulOuS, and the
moisture gathered thicker in the eyes erstl
while soft, but now beginning to CLEAN
| with fire that had hitherto been Smouider-
| ing.
! l learned from some laggard Indians that
| we captured that Victoria himself was the
| butcher of my children, and that my wife had
been taken on into a captivity more horrible
| than death. A few months later when
J Victoria found that l was likely to capture
| his band, the devish villain
| MURDERED HEB.
| You can now understand why never let
| up on his trail until had hunted him down
and avenged the death of my wife and chill
dren By sending this steel blade to the scound-
| rePS heart.
With this he produced stiletto about
fifteen inches long and tlourshed it into the
air saw ,,us
Yes, for nearly eighteen months chased
| the Apaches from mountain range to noun
| tain range all over the Northern provinces Of
Mexico and several times across the line into
| the United States. From time to time we
would come up with struggling parties of the
I brutes and would soon dispatch them. In
| this way we had decimated the ranks of the
! band until there was but handful of them
| left. And yet had never been able to como
up with Victoria. Coward that he was, he
| kept always in advance of his band instead of
staying in the rear to protect them. AT last
| the hour for my vengeance came. Unex
| pectedly we came upon the remnant of the
| band early one morning. They started in
rapid flight and we in pursuit I singled out
|
| die. 1t was red and white Nauvoo blankeu
and the only one of the kind in the tribe. L
gave him chase, and for over three hours it
was nip and tuck At length his broncho
| showed signs of weakening and | discovered
! that was gaining on him. Foolishly we had
| expended all our ammunition early in the
| chase, and when l got near enough to Vic
torio to shoot him hadn't single cartridge.
When close up near him he had
thrown himself forward and was
| nf
! ] saw this stiletto reaching back from under
| his right arm. and [ knew his object was to
wait until l came up within reach and then
| suddenly to straighten up and thrust it
through me. [ had
| MY PISTOL IN HAND
and when within about rod OF him raised
myself in the stirrups and flung the revolver
at him with full force. The butt of it struck
him III the right temple and he dropped to the
| ground. sprang from my pony and picking
up the stiletto, which had dropped from the
bloody scoundrePs hand, 1 buried it in his
! heart. Here is the stiIetto, the revolver, the
blanket, and there is Victories scalp which
L severed from his head.
| With this came chuckle with blood
curdling ring to it as the Indian slayer
sprang TO his feet and thrust the stiletto
through mass of long black hair which
hung suspended from the ceiling. The
chase was continued until Juh, the second
! chief in command, fell beneath Mexican
Joe's hand and his men had exterminated
the entire band.
| You ask me about this young girl at my
| side? All can tell you is that I found her
! with the Apaches when l raided Bern erta'
! camp about eight years ago. She was then,
as / suppose, about years old. She doesn't
! know anything of her orgiu-doesn't know
| who her parents were. All that could learn
| from the Apache prisoners was that her
mother had been a white woman who died in
/ when n iDf
called the child Saverna, and that is the only
name she has. L took her to a convent in
| Northern Mexico, where she was tenderly
cared for by the sisters, and has been well
! educated.
The girl is intelligent, but still betravs a
| fondness for the Indians and the recolec-
| ton Of her early wild life Col Shelley
says that Victoria, Berreeta, Geronimo and
all the Apache leaders who have been
noted have been half-breeds-a cross Of
Mexican and Apache-and thus he ac-
counts for their exceedingly fierce DISPOSE
| tions, combined with their executive and
military skill. Col. Shelley says that this
is his first experience in the show business.
but he has already acquired such liking
for it that he thinks he will organize a
Mexican show next season that will be a
sensation. He has lost his appetite for
| Indian blood, besides he finds the show
business more pleasant and more profitable
than chasing Apaches.
II